Modern Times: remote communities

Investing in remote communities is in the national interest. The issue of remote communities should not be allowed to merge into a broader conversation about responsibility and fiscal austerity. If we choose not to invest, our first people will be denied a just and cherished place in our national life. Closures would be the ultimate rejection of our Indigenous peoples and an abdication of responsibility for the wrongs that have been wrought. It is important to appreciate the history of our remote communities. Many started as missionary settlements. Children were taken from families and settled in camps that evolved into remote communities. One generation was severed from the next. Populations that were once monolingual were forbidden from speaking their mother language. Children heard speaking an Aboriginal language were punished. Following resettlement into the remote communities, no generation would master their tribal language. A people were severed from their language. As former Prime Minister Paul Keating explained in his Redfern speech, “We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life … It was our ignorance and prejudice. And our failure to imagine these things done to us.” We brought the diseases and then denied them remedies because it was too expensive to service remote communities. We brought the alcohol and then told them they couldn’t drink. In the case of remote communities, inhabited by our first peoples, we have a responsibility to support whatever choice that remains theirs. As a nation, we must take responsibilities for these wrongs and understand the history, which has led to this current moment in our nation’s life. Many Australians cannot understand why those in remote communities don’t choose to leave, in search of a ‘better’ life. Jean-Paul Sartre once suggested: “In whatever circle of hell we live, I think that we are free to break it. And if people do not break it, then they stay there of their own free will. So they put themselves in hell freely.” But those with an attachment to land and community do not see a hell to escape but a heaven to which we can aspire. There is beauty in this country. The red sands on which most remote communities were built have an almost overpowering attraction, somehow more textured and meaningful than the yellow sands to which residents of the coastal cities and towns have become accustomed. The smiles are broad and the unselfconsciously tactile nature of the young people heartrending. There are problems common to most remote communities. There is a lack of industries that will bring employment opportunities and, by consequence, a chance of self-determination for the communities. Basic infrastructure such as rubbish collection is lacking and the results are predictable. Service provision to remote areas is by nature more expensive. There is no economy of scale to make such provision profitable for private interests, and the distance makes it prohibitively expensive for governments intent on austerity. A serious investment in overcoming the challenge of distance would require a government to shed the cloak of ideologically-driven economic rationalism. Such investment (or ‘subsidisation’) could be justified for other reasons. All Australians will also benefit if our Indigenous cultures are kept strong. The social solidarity evident in New Zealand derives from a conscious and agreed decision to respect and promote the cultures of the Maori peoples. Their words are part of the national anthem, represented in the national parliament and absorbed in the national symbolism. There is power in unity. Emotional and financial investment in remote communities would be rewarded by a deeper sense of shared national pride, economic opportunity and an enriched identity. It would be both immoral and irrational to allow such communities to close. More, it would be a wasted opportunity that would be impossible to recover. @AndrewHunter__

Time

(Wednesday) 11:45 AM - 2:00 PM

Location

Intercontinental Adelaide

North Terrace, Adelaide SA 5000

Event Details

The American Chamber of Commerce, South Australia is proud to present The Hon Jay Weatherill, Premier of South Australia as special guest speaker at the AmCham Business Luncheon on Wednesday, 11 October,

Event Details

The American Chamber of Commerce, South Australia is proud to present The Hon Jay Weatherill, Premier of South Australia as special guest speaker at the AmCham Business Luncheon on Wednesday, 11 October, 2017.

Join AmCham members and guests as The Premier speaks to the South Australian business community on South Australia’s economic priorities, the challenges and opportunities facing our State in 2017.

Jay Weatherill is South Australia’s 45th Premier.

Jay was born and educated in Adelaide’s western suburbs, completing his secondary education at Henley High School.

He is a lawyer with an economics degree, establishing his own law firm in 1995 and practicing until he was elected as the Member for Cheltenham in 2002. Jay was subsequently re-elected as Member for Cheltenham in 2006 and in 2010.

He has held a range of portfolios including Environment and Conservation, Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister Assisting the Premier in Cabinet Business and Public Sector Management, Families and Communities, Housing, Ageing, Disability, Urban Development and Planning, Administrative Services, Local Government and Gambling. He is a member of the South Australian Executive Council.

Time

Event Details

The forever romance,the hundred year classic ,the most heart-warming dancing you will see this year.
The Russian National Ballet Theatre is coming back. They will bring the world's greatest classic ballet

Event Details

The forever romance,the hundred year classic ,the most heart-warming dancing you will see this year.

The Russian National Ballet Theatre is coming back. They will bring the world’s greatest classic ballet Romeo and Juliet this time.

The seamless choreographed by Evgeny Amosov based on the Prokofiev ballet in three Acts and classical music.The Russian National Ballet Theatre will bring audience into a antiquity tradition of tragic romances story.

“For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo” – From William Shakespeare.